Tartarus Beckons

by Edmund A. M. Batara

  Sford still had not cast any spell and Tyler commiserated with the man. Even reaching the boundaries of magical exhaustion was a tiring and debilitating experience. Meanwhile, Habrok and Kadir had separated and supported each flank, while Kobu, as his wont, was again at Tyler’s side.

  With all the walls around us, I can’t see a goddam thing, realized Tyler. His gaze fell on the broken-down tower.

  He turned to Sford.

  “We’re bound to be overwhelmed here. We can’t use our spells to full effect, and fire-related ones would be useless against Sutr’s creatures. We have to have an exit. Please go with Kadir and start cleaning out the cave. I don’t know where it leads, but it’s better than facing both enemy groups,” said Tyler urgently. The mage deemed that cave must have served a purpose for the Alfar and humans. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have tolerated the presence of an unknown and possibly fatal breach in their defenses.

  While Sford and Kadir made their way up to the mountainside, Tyler concentrated on rebuilding the destroyed tower, at least its first level. He might come up with a laughable excuse for one, but he needed the height to see what’s happening on the other side of the walls. And use his spells. The feeling of being a spare tire was again coming over him.

  He ran up the partially-rebuilt tower, with Kobu following him. Tyler did notice that the attempts of the jotnar to force the entrance had stopped, and he wondered why. When he reached the parapet, the mage saw the reason for the temporary cessation of attacks – advance elements of Ymir’s legions had arrived, and they were, for the most part, ice elves mounted on huge vargr. Tyler could see the frost forming in the air as the giant ice wolves heavily panted. The beasts must have been driven to their limit by their masters. They were unlike the ones he had faced before, and the mage wondered if this larger kind was explicitly reserved for Ymir’s favored warriors.

  There appeared to be a heated argument between the two groups. Apparently, the ice jotnar were not happy to see Sutr’s forces this deep in their territory. The mage remembered that sporadic border fighting was still going on between the two domains despite the truce, and given that animosity, the forces of Ymir would definitely be hostile at this point. Only the existence of the truce prevented a full-scale battle between the two hosts. Tyler examined the balance of forces and decided that for the moment, the fire jotnar had the advantage, even if their numbers were slightly less than Ymir’s leading elements. For one, they had a sizeable contingent of fire giants with them, a force which, due to their lumbering speed, had yet to come to blows with the company.

  But things could rapidly change once the main elements of Ymir’s forces arrive. The fire jotnar might agree to serve under the ice elves, or Ymir’s horde, when at its full strength, might decide to mop up Sutr’s minions. Tyler wanted a battle between the two armies, not a combined assault on the courtyard. Fortunately, the ice drakes seem to be absent. Apparently, they were not committed to the attacks on the dokkalfr in their strongholds and cities deep within the mountain range. The make-up of Ymir’s legions supported Loki’s statement that what was before Tyler was a reinforcement army.

  The bugger didn’t lie? thought the surprised mage.

  Tyler quickly considered his spells, but all of them might damage the terrestrial portal. The blade attack might work, but he didn’t want to call attention to the company. The collection of jotnar might just decide to shelve whatever differences they have if they were attacked by a third party. The young mage shifted from that line of thinking – not while there’s still a chance that the two groups could start killing each other.

  “Hal, X. I’ll course a spell through you and protect it with Elder energy. There might be powerful mages among those ice elves, I want to make sure that this works. Expand the field of effect to cover both jotnar groups,” advised the mage.

  Then Tyler cast the gift of Dionysus – a spell of confusion.

  Habrok's Map of Solens Tårn

  Chapter Thirteen

  Escaping Solens Tårn

  Just as Tyler released the spell, he saw one of the ice elves look up. The mage noticed that the creature was more ornately armored than its brethren. Even the wolflike mount was fully armored. An armored arm was quickly raised, wielding a white staff, and even from a distance, Tyler could sense the considerable magical power of the ice el. It was strong, a level higher than what the mage sensed of Sford. The magic-wielding creature apparently had no idea what the incoming spell was as his reaction was to immediately cast a strong magical shield.

  When his enchantment quickly ripped through the arcane protection, Tyler could feel the strength of the shield. It would have given even a High Mage pause. But the thin Elder component of the confusion spell tore through it as if it didn’t exist and quickly started to wreak its havoc among the minds of the gathered hosts. Sutr’s minions were among those first affected, being bereft of the momentary protection of a magical shield. The various creatures on the field began to wander aimlessly among themselves and murmurs could now be heard by the watching human mage.

  As Tyler watched, a giant humanoid wreathed in flame idly walked towards an ice elf in the vanguard, casually raised his massive club, and squashed flat the watching warrior. The ice elf didn’t even try to evade the blow, he just curiously stared at the approaching flaming mountain until its very material bludgeon put an end to the curiosity. The sickening sound echoed throughout the field, catching everybody’s attention. Even the strange beasts of fire and ice were staring at where the sound came from. The fire giant responsible for turning the ice elf to mush looked at his massive weapon and wonderingly touched the messy gore his victim left behind.

  Isn’t the spell supposed to just confuse them? thought Tyler. They act stupid, not confused. Okay, stupid and confused. Moronic even.

  Then one of the gigantic wolf-creatures lazily turned its head towards its rider and suddenly rolled on the ground, catching the ice elf by surprise. Free of its rider, the vargyr took a few moments to stare at its dislodged partner, and then jumped on the startled elf, its fanged mouth agape. Biting off the head, it hungrily wolfed down its newly dead meal. Growls arose from the rest of its giant brethren. The right side of the ice elf mage Tyler noticed earlier was abruptly bitten off by its mount, and as he fell, another vargyr had its fill of the body, leading to a biting and clawing struggle between the two beasts.

  Pandemonium immediately exploded as base instincts and racial natures took over. The field erupted in gore and ferocity as other vargyr turned to their riders and other creatures for their food. Sutr’s humanoid minions promptly attacked Ymir’s host, their hatred for their age-old enemies coming to the fore. Magical spells crackled as they ripped their way towards their victims, flame creatures engaged ice elves in deadly combat, and in the middle of it all, fire and ice beasts taking no sides but venting their fury and hunger on whoever they could catch.

  Amid the raucous sound of battle and the terrible cries of the dying, Tyler looked down on the party. Most were confusingly stupefied at what happened, though the young mage saw Tyndur and Astrid looking up at him. Several loud crashes caught Tyler’s attention as the bulk of the wild melee neared his makeshift fortifications. He immediately blocked the entrance. The battle was rapidly deteriorating into bestial savagery among the gathered jotnar.

  “Time to leave, sire?” he heard Kobu ask calmly.

  “I don’t mind if we do, Kobu. When the main force of Ymir’s reinforcements arrives, that battle is going to be quickly over, and they’ll be free to turn their attention to us,” replied Tyler. The mage then looked down.

  “Hey, get to the cave entrance!” he shouted.

  Without waiting to note if they followed his order, Tyler immediately made his way down. By the time he got to the ground, the party was already on its way up the incline led by Tyler, though Habrok stayed behind to wait for Tyler and Kobu.

  “That was a show, sire,” observed the ranger as they ran to catch up with the rest.

  �
�It won’t last long,” said Tyler. “Spells do have a time limit, but I hope by the time it expires they’re already deep into the business of killing each other to mind its disappearance.”

  Habrok laughed heartily.

  “Well, Orm was in conniptions when he saw what was happening,” answered the ranger. “He had a weird laugh.”

  “That I could imagine.”

  As they reached the top of the incline, Tyler saw it was a large flat area, though ruins of ancient structures and petrified trees could be seen. He felt the presence of faint wisps of magic, used in anger and hate, the telltale signs of the emotion which drove their casting still tainting the remnants of the structures after so many years. The mage looked at his companions ahead of him and saw that Tyndur had stopped and was addressing the rest. The einherjar was pointing to some peaks to their right. Just before he followed, Tyler took a last glance back and saw that the muddled, savage fracas was still ongoing, though he could see that some of the fortifications he had created were shaking from the impact of bodies and blows hurled against it. He knew the walls wouldn’t last any longer. In the distance, the approaching cloud of dust was a lot nearer.

  The way to the cave entrance was thankfully uncontested. Tyler could see giant dead spiders in burned groups along the way. Sford clearly didn’t have an easy time reaching the cave. The closer they got to their destination; more toasted arachnids came into view. They were, as Kadir said, large monsters. And Tyler still had to see one the size of a dog. So far, the smallest of the blasted freaks was the size of a donkey. There were a few spiders which had arrows in them. Obviously Habrok’s handiwork, and it occurred to the mage that the earlier visit of the two scouts must have stirred up the spider colony inhabiting the fissure, to the disadvantage of Sford and Kadir.

  Sford must have had a difficult time, mused the mage. I hope they’re okay. Spiders breed fast, and it looked like we’re the first to come this way in a long time.

  Finally, the party stood before the mouth of the cave. It was a large one, and it bore evidence of Sford’s passage. The sides of the entrance were black, evidence of massive fire blasts. Smoke still lingered and came out of its depths, together with the nasty smell of burned creatures. Tyler looked around. They were in a mountainous cul-de-sac. It was a ravine marked by a few more stone ruins, and he could see that the end of the gully was blocked by tall basalt peaks. Around them were more dead arachnids, especially in the waiting cave entrance. Even a solitary calcified tree was on fire, caught by a magical fireball. Yet what caught Tyler’s attention was a tall stone marker beside the entrance. Though time had eroded the deeply engraved glyphs on it, most of it was still readable.

  “Tyndur? You’re familiar with that language?” asked Tyler as he pointed to the stone marker.

  “Looks Alfar to me, sire. Unfortunately, I never bothered with them. Too wily and weird for my nerves,” said Tyndur.

  “Permit me,” volunteered Magna as she stepped forward.

  Tyler kept his silence as the dokkalfr warrior moved to the marker. Sford was inside the cave, but the human mage wanted to know something about what they’re getting into. If the peculiar mage was in a tight spot, then whatever information they could get would be of tremendous help. A few minutes passed and then Magna went to him.

  “The first part praised Freyr and dedicated the outpost to him. The second mentioned something about the cave being a passageway under the mountains back to Skaney. Quite helpful too – it said a journey of five days. The last section was scratched out and replaced by dokkalfr runes. It must be the ones who destroyed the outpost. The runes are archaic. An older form of our current ones. It warned that the tunnels have been collapsed and there’s no way out,” narrated Magna.

  “Now that would have been helpful if our scouts learned that before. Sford too,” replied Tyler testily, keeping his expletives in check.

  “I doubt it, First Mage. The runes and languages of the Vanaheimr were not familiar to most races.”

  “Well, we just need to make our own way then,” said Tyler. “The ruins down on the plain are not an option right now.”

  “Good decision, First Mage. From what I heard, that reinforcement host is mighty indeed. Probably includes hundreds of their mages. Even a First Mage might find it difficult.”

  Yep. As I have always said, especially for a half-baked one, thought Tyler.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Spider Realm

  Tyler carefully examined the waiting, unknown underground system, praying that he’d find signs that the rogue and the mage were still alive. If he had known how infested the place was with the monstrous arachnids, the mage would have taken the chance of letting the conflict resolve itself on the plains below despite the odds and the constraints on his magic.

  With a feeling of relief, he sensed two specks of energy ahead of them, one a blazing font of magical power. It was a surprising discovery for Tyler, he didn’t expect Sford to be so powerful. But he could also feel the exhaustion in the mage. The power was there, but the capability to wield it was almost spent. Sford had been close to his limit after his rearguard action and had only a little time to recover before testing the patience of the giant arachnids. Alarmingly, some distance away from the two, numerous flecks of energy were gathering. Too many to count, and Tyler knew the vast number of creatures each clump represented. Strangely, the swarms kept their distance from the pair. Farther back of the constellation of angry hordes was more of the same display, culminating in a massive collection of glimmering spots with a large shining dot roughly in the middle of the assembly.

  Must be the main colony, thought the mage. Tyler turned to Magna.

  “Any idea how many spider colonies inhabit this part of the mountains?” he inquired.

  “No idea, First Mage. It had been ages since a dokkalfr set foot in these parts. Before… or when the plan to bring you here was made, I went over our lore, and it does show that dokkalfr don’t return from such expeditions or if they do, the mad survivors had to be put out of their misery. After a number of such missions, it was decided to stop sending explorers and limit our expansion up to the Stronghold of Kunigunda,” replied the warrior after some thought.

  “I appreciate the information, Magna.”

  Tyler faced Orm who, for a change, had a knotted forehead.

  I would be worried about my friends too, thought the mage.

  “The good news is that they’re alive, and the bad news is that there may be more spiders than we can handle.”

  The large barbarian grunted and slightly bowed to show his appreciation.

  “Bad idea to fight spiders in their tunnels. They get to attack from all directions. We usually lead them out to the open. Easier to kill. But I guess we’ve got no choice,” said Orm. The mage noticed that that warrior’s hands kept on grasping the handle of his weapon, shifting it from one hand to the other.

  At least I am not the only one who’s getting stressed out, thought Tyler.

  “Hopefully, we won’t reach that level of fighting. Let’s go and save our friends, and avoid a pitched battle if we could help it. Twisting and crooked tunnels and passageways also don’t work well for magical spells.”

  With that comment, the mage strode toward the entrance. As Tyler came closer, followed by his companions, the smell of burned spider became stronger, mingled with smoke from fire spells. The ground was still warm from Sford’s magical destruction. From what Tyler could determine, multiple fireballs or blasts had been unleashed by Sford. Even the rocky ceiling of the cave was blackened by the fiery fury unleashed by the mage. He could just imagine the numbers which greeted the mage to elicit such a violent and vigorous reaction. It must have rained fire when Sford and Kadir were attacked.

  “Sire, let me take the lead,” he heard Habrok say. “My hunting senses would serve us well amidst this noisome reek of destruction and death.”

  Tyler momentarily stopped and let the ranger go to the front. Tyndur followed Habrok while Orm g
uarded the rear. On the flanks were Kobu and Astrid. Suddenly, the party heard a large explosion. They increased their pace as Tyler checked again. Nothing significant had changed. The specks of energy remained where they were, though the large groups had moved back a little. As he wondered about the blast, the party finally entered the depths of the cavern.

  A large dark corridor led the way down and true to its fortress roots, the route was paved with stone. Magical lights promptly appeared among some members of the group, forcing Tyler to ask them to turn them off. There were too many and the illumination bothered the eyes even if the brightness didn’t greatly affect their night sight. But it wasn’t an ideal solution. Instead, the mage cast a light spell several feet in front of Habrok. It was bright enough to reveal any waiting arachnid clinging to the walls and the ceiling, but not too much as to interfere with their vision. At the same time, the illumination gave away little of the party’s composition and numbers.

  “Watch out for sudden attacks from the sides,” Kobu said. “From experience, some spiders are crafty enough to wait inside small tunnels concealed by fake walls. Remember, there are poisonous spiders and acid-spewing ones.”

  “Acid?” whispered an astonished Habrok. “I haven’t heard of that one.”

  “We have them back where I came from,” said the exile.

  Tyler didn’t say anything even when he knew the general area was clear of the eight-legged monsters. At the very least, it would help keep the company be on the alert. He had not seen any living giant spider yet as what greeted him when they entered the cavern were the burned and shrunken remains of what Sford and Kadir encountered and subsequently roasted. But he’d rather not dwell on what the little buggers would look like when at such monstrous sizes.

  Albeit greatly affected by the passage of time and the lack of upkeep, the pathway made their progress more manageable. Several minutes into the cavern, another explosive blast reached their ears. A quick scrying spell again revealed the lack of any change in the disposition of the figures and creatures. Tyler was mystified. He could swear the explosions meant an attack on Kadir and Sford, but nothing of the sort was happening.